Summarise the main points of the handout on Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos

Andrew Goodwin  believes traditional narrative analyses do not apply to pop videos because they approach it from a different angle to novels and films. The reasons for this are as follows:

• Pop videos are built around songs; usually these do not pose traditional narrative structures
• Pop videos use the singer as a narrator and a character
• The singer usually looks into the camera, as it helps the viewer at home feels involved in the song

Pop videos rely on repetition, such as images in the way the song repeats choruses or lines, or rhythms of other songs (intertextuality), allowing us to become familiar with the genre and have certain expectations. The video would be played on the radio, or an advertising film or TV tie-in, making the song familiar to the masses. Pop songs have a form of closure and ending because the three minutes that a video is based on must end. This is reflected in the structure of the music, building to a climax or constant repetition before fading out.

Some videos are autonomous from the music the spring from, e.g the visualisation of a song may go beyond the original meaning. Sometimes the video provides a visual pleasure that encourages numerous views, which promotes the music. The videos may promote films as well, showing that there are three types of relations between songs and videos: illustration, amplification and disjuncture.

• Illustration - The video tells the story of the lyrics, using dance and other things to express the feelings/moods of the song
• Amplification - The video introduces new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning
• Disjuncture - The video has little connection to the lyrics or where the video contradicts the lyrics

Pop videos usually have easily recognisable features, e.g. Michael Jackson used to give a yelp and/or twirl in his videos. Also, women are presented as objects of male desire, especially in heavy metal and hip hop videos. Madonna and Beyonce present themselves for males to look at, but they look directly into the camera  and cease to be passive.

In some videos the instruments are portrayed by different objects, e.g. Rock The Casbah by The Clash, where an armadillo trundles along every time the piano plays. Videos also try and appeal to as wide an audience as possible without alienating anyone. Videos that feature older bands often show them in their younger days - but this would be 60s and 70s, so an older audience can still identify with them.

Lastly, videos that are from songs written for films usually incoporate images from the film in the video, for example Celine Dion in My Heart Will Go On uses clips from the film Titanic.

Illustration

This video is illustrative because it shows Eminem standing on rooftops and giving examples of confident body language, showing that he is 'not afraid' of anything or anyone anymore. Also he flies, something that nobody can do, and this shows that he's a changed man, as he says in the lyrics.

Amplification


This video amplifies the lyrics of the song because it isn't literally about what the lyrics say all the way through, but it shows the mundaneness of common life, which is the underlying meaning to the song.

Disjuncture


This video is an example of disjuncture because the video has nothing to do with the lyrics, most obviously because they are singing about being a spy, and girls, but neither of these are represented in the video.